Cannibalism

[ScrltOTara]

What would cause 2 year old chickens who never ate their eggs to suddenly start eating ALL of them - like as soon as they are laid? I had 4 eggs get eaten today. I watched for the hen to come out and as soon as she did - I ran to get the egg and it was already gone

How do you stop this behavior once they are "into" it?

 

[Uzuri]

You can try the soap or mustard in a blown eggshell method, or you can build roll-away nesting boxes, but I think general consensus is that if they're lurking around like little sharks for the eggs to be laid, your only recourse may be to cull and start over.

 

[Shifty Joe]

If they have any lacking anything in their diet (protein, calcium, etc) it can cause them to eat their eggs. Before you cull them, I would give them tons of oyster shells, greens, and the like.